Electropolymerized Polythiophene Photoelectrodes with Density-Controlled Gold Nanoparticles

A polythiophene thin film was fabricated on gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-deposited indium tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes with electropolymerization, whereas AuNPs were predeposited on the ITO surface. A photocurrent via photoexcited polythiophene increased with AuNPs which was attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance. Investigation of the AuNP-density dependence on the relative enhancement of photocurrent revealed the maximum effect at 14% of AuNP-density, while 68% of AuNP-density exhibited smaller photocurrent than the polythiophene electrode without AuNPs. We have revealed that the effects of AuNPs saturate in the fairly low density region, and that the excess AuNPs even in the range of submonolayer resulted in the decrement of photocurrents.